


Under The Influence

by TotidemVerbis



Series: HBO War One Shots And Drabbles [12]
Category: Generation Kill
Genre: I don't think I know how to write a drabble without fluff, M/M, SO MUCH FLUFF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2018-03-11
Packaged: 2019-03-29 20:17:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13934583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TotidemVerbis/pseuds/TotidemVerbis
Summary: Pappy keeps asking the most important question at the worst times, but he eventually gets the timing right.





	Under The Influence

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a dialogue prompt on tumblr, but I think it's cute so I'm posting it here too.

"Can I kiss you?" Rudy laughs a little as Pappy asks the question and wishes that he was recording this. Pappy hasn't been back in his room long, he's just come back from hopefully the last surgery he'll need on his foot, and he was just asking Rudy about the birdies around his head. 

"Maybe when you're out of the hospital," Rudy answers absently as he leans forward to fix Pappy's crooked pillow. He hears Pappy laughing lowly, it's a sound that he's missed, and then there's a slight pressure against Rudy's cheek. Rudy pulls back with wide eyes, and Pappy's grinning at him in smug satisfaction. 

"Pap!" Rudy can't believe that Pappy, very straight Pappy, just snuck a kiss onto his cheek while Rudy was fluffing his pillow. Rudy's cheek is tingling from where Pappy's little bit of scruff scratched his cheek though, and Pappy's still smiling at him with glassy eyes. 

"Got ya, Rude," Pappy says as his eyes close and he sinks down onto his pillow. He's snoring in seconds, and Rudy shakes his head with a smile as he leans back in his chair. Pappy won't even remember that little exchange later, but Rudy won't forget it.

**.xXx.**

"Can I kiss you?" Rudy laughs as Pappy asks the question and wonders what he's done to keep getting put into these situations. Pappy's finally on the mend and back at home, and most of Bravo Two plus some extras came out to celebrate Pappy's good health. A good number of them are now passed out around Pappy's house, and Rudy will see to them after he's sure that the very drunk man of the hour is safe in his bed.

"Maybe when you're sober," Rudy answers with a smile as he pulls the boot off of Pappy's uninjured foot. He hears Pappy sigh as he flops back against his pillow, and Rudy carefully pulls a blanket up Pappy's long lanky body. He's tucking the blanket around Pappy's shoulders, because he knows that Pappy is always freezing at night, when something tickles his nose. 

"Larry Shawn Patrick!" Rudy can hear the scold in his voice as he straightens up, but Pappy is smiling up at him like he won something. Not like he just kissed the tip of his best friend's nose. 

"Rodolfo Reyes," Pappy sighs and then promptly passes out. 

Rudy takes in a slow breath, holds it, and counts to ten as he releases it. Then he leaves Pappy's room and grabs an armload of blankets from a hall closet. He stumbles over Garza and Chaffin first, sleeping with their spines aligned in the middle of the hallway, and he drapes a single blanket over the two of them before moving farther into the house. 

It's not that Rudy minds the little kisses. One on his cheek and one on the end of his nose, that's nothing. (It is something though, because it's _Pappy_.) He finds Doc Bryan and Walt smushed together in a recliner, but it looks like the Doc grabbed the quilt from the back of the couch to cover them in. Which means that Brad and Eric, who are taking up the entire couch with their long limbs, are uncovered. Rudy gets a blanket to spread out over them and then walks around the side of the couch. 

Pappy is his best friend, the person he trusts most in this world, and he thought he knew everything about the other man. He just can't understand why Pappy keeps trying to kiss him when he's under the influence. Behind the couch, there's three bodies all huddled together. Qtip and Christeson are sleeping like curved parentheses, with their foreheads and feet touching, and Ray is curled into a tight ball between their middles. Rudy is careful to make sure the blanket he drapes over them doesn't cover Ray's face and then starts for the kitchen. 

At some point, maybe in Iraq or maybe even before that, Rudy fell in love with his best friend. He's never planned on telling Pappy, not because he thinks Pappy would hate him, but because he likes the easy way they are around each other now and doesn't want to disrupt that. Two blankets are distributed in the kitchen; one over Trombley who is sleeping on top of the kitchen table, and one over Poke and Lilley who are spooning under the kitchen table. Rudy thinks he's done, but he still has one more blanket and can hear the old swing on the back porch creaking. So he heads in that direction while trying to calm his thoughts. 

There's a chance that Pappy has picked up on Rudy's feelings. Pappy's a Recon Marine, after all, so maybe the little innocent kisses are his way of telling Rudy that he knows how Rudy feels and that he's okay with it. He doesn't expect Pappy to reciprocate, but that's okay. Rudy loves Pappy just the way he is, and that's not going to change just because Pappy doesn't feel the same. 

"Are you okay, Rudy?" The question is a quiet whisper as Rudy steps onto the back porch, and it takes his eyes a moment to adjust. 

Nate's sitting in the center of the swing with two sleeping bodies on either side of him, and the recently retired Captain is looking at Rudy with fuzzy eyes. Nate's just as plastered as the rest of them but still looking out for his men. Mike's head is resting on one of his shoulders, and Patterson is on Nate's other side and curled up with his head on Nate's chest. Nate's got an arm around each of them, holding them steady, and his blinks keep getting longer as Rudy smiles down at them. 

"All good, sir," Rudy says around a grin as he spreads the last blanket over the three men. Nate nods once and then lets his head fall back, unconscious at last, and Rudy is still laughing quietly as he walks back inside the house. 

The house is quiet now, except for the occasional snore or grumble, and Rudy makes his way to the guest room. He's been staying with Pappy since he came home from the hospital, so he's starting to think of the guest room as his room. It's his room until Pappy asks him to leave anyway. So Rudy falls onto his bed, rubs his nose against the pillow that smells like Pappy's laundry detergent, and falls asleep.

**.xXx.**

"Can I kiss you?" Rudy sighs at the quiet question and closes his eyes as the old porch swing he's sitting on rocks with added weight. It's been a week since Pappy's big celebration, and nearly everyone who attended is still nursing a hangover. Rudy's felt pretty good the past few days, and he's been sitting outside for the past couple of hours and enjoying the clean air. Pappy must have found the Emergency Liquor while Rudy was out of the house, if he's asking Rudy that question again.

"Maybe when you're-"

"-I'm out of the hospital and stone cold sober, Rudy. No more excuses." Pappy's voice is strong and clear, and Rudy opens his eyes before turning to face his best friend. Pappy's eyes are clear, he's clean shaven for once, and his smile looks a little nervous. 

"Pappy?" There's an unspoken question just in that one name, and Rudy can see Pappy's fingers shaking a little just before he carefully touches Rudy's cheek. 

"Can I kiss you?" There's a million thoughts running through Rudy's head, but he can't articulate any of them. So he just meets Pappy's eyes and nods. 

Pappy's fingers curl around Rudy's hair as he leans forward, and Rudy stops breathing when their lips touch. Then Pappy's hold tightens as he presses closer, and Rudy returns the kiss he's been too scared to hope for. The kiss is light and sweet, exploring, and they're just starting to sink into the new sensations when the swing creaks ominously. The sound is followed by a loud _crack!_ before dropping them onto the porch, and Rudy laughs as the broken swing presses against his back. 

"Good sign or bad?" Rudy asks breathlessly. Pappy landed on top of him, and he catches a quick glimpse of Pappy's smile before he's being kissed again. 

"Best sign. I hated that damn thing," Pappy says against his lips before leaning up to really kiss him. Rudy stops thinking as the kisses get deeper, but that's okay. He's with Pappy, and that's all that matters.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
